Million Year Old Tooth Found In Spain

Spanish researchers on Friday said they had unearthed a human tooth more than one million years old, which they estimated to be the oldest human
fossil remain ever discovered in western Europe.

Jose Maria Bermudez de Castro, co-director of research at the Atapuerca site said the molar, discovered on Wednesday in the Atapuerca Sierra in the
northern province of Burgos, could be as much as 1.2 million years old.

"The tooth represents the oldest human fossil remain of western Europe. Now we finally have the anatomical evidence of the hominids that fabricated
tools more than one million years ago," the Atapuerca Foundation said in a statement.

Bermudez de Castro, one of three paleontologists leading the expedition, said the fossil appeared to be "well worn" and from an individual aged
between 20-25.

It may not seem like a big deal, but it's finds like these that build up to give us a
bigger picture of our Evolutionary history.

The age of the individual struck me to, since from my understanding it would have
been in the latter part of its mid-life (age expectancy was really low for early Humans),
and it popped into my mind, maybe this individual died from an activity springing from
during its Mid-Life crisis.

It may not seem like a big deal, but it's finds like these that build up to give us a
bigger picture of our Evolutionary history.

The age of the individual struck me to, since from my understanding it would have
been in the latter part of its mid-life (age expectancy was really low for early Humans),
and it popped into my mind, maybe this individual died from an activity springing from
during its Mid-Life crisis.

A very good question. It turns out that teeth are unique to a lot of species, and some animals can be identified from a single tooth. Tyrannosaurus
Rex is one of those.

If you look above, the single long root and the pattern of the crown (the flattened part of the tooth) is actually unique to humans and is not present
in the apes. The pattern of the "valley" forms a "Y" shape in humans, but not in any other species.

Pretty cool, huh?

And why does it have anything to do with tools?

They found stone tools in the region that they've dated to about 1 million years. This may represent homo erectus or homo heidelbergensis rather
than homo sapiens.

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